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Duke Hospital, InterGom
“Which elevator did you say?”
Earl Manguni, veteran chief of elevator maiiiteiiaiiee for Duke University,
answers a “trouble call” in his workshop in the hospital basement near “old
number 7.” Mr. Manguni makes two suggestions to such callers: (1) identify
the elevator by number; (2) leave your name in case more information is
needed.
(Duke photo by Sparks)
”01d Number 7” and Its Offspring
How many elevators are tliere in
the Duke Medical Center—21; and
dumbwaiters? and conveyors? and
subveyors (they go down) ? And how
many such units in the whole Uni
versity? This information, together
with “when they were oiled last,” is
kept in the workshop where Earl
Mangum and his staff of three: Kus-
sell Hayes, Owen Lockamy, and
Thomas Pruitt, have their headquar
ters. Appropriately, this workshop is
in the hospital basement near “old
number 7.” “Old number 7” is the
official designation for the elevator in
the Medical School building—the one
with the independent turn of mind.
Mr. Mangum points out that though
“old number 7” is the same chrono
logical age as the other four original
elevators, actually it is older in point
of service. The construction crews
used it to haul up supplies (building
stone, tile and the like), while the
hospital was being built.
The five original elevators, pur
chased in 1929, cost $30,000 each. To
day the average price of an elevator
is $45,000. These figures do not in
clude the cost of the shaft.
The elevator maintenance crew, al
though it has headquarters in the
hospital, is responsible for all eleva
tors and other conveyors in the Uni
versity as a whole. Understandably
the heaviest use occurs in the hospital.
A counter put on the elevator by How
land about ten years ago recorded 150
starts and stops per hour. This has
not increased markedly because that
figure was near-capacity use. The
two elevators by Welch now challenge
the one by Howland for title of “the
busiest. ” “ Old number 7 ’ ’ can travel
100 feet per minute; those in the rest
of the hospital 350 feet per minute;
those in the ’57 addition and the new
building 400 feet per minute.
Two problems plague the mainte
nance staff. First, the greatest wear
and tear (and this is a “firing,
offense”) comes when a passenger,
trips the red emergency toggle switch
simply to by-pass a floor. Second,
when both tlie up and down buttons
are pushed, the car stops twice. This
is needless wear on the unit.
Earl Mangum was first employed
at Duke in 1927 to work on the East
Campus heating plant. The same year
he moved over to the hospital site
and cut the stakes to lay out Duke
Hospital. Eventually he was put in
charge of elevator nuiintenance. At
that time he had no staff, and, when
he needed helj), took it where he could
find it. Today when the Maintenance
Department needs someone to super
vise the moving of heavy equipment
(air-conditioning units to the roof,
for example), they call on Mr.
Mangum. Most recently he super
vised placing of the new hyperbaric
chamber.
Reminiscing, Mr. Mangum com
mented, “In the old days” the eleva
tors carried signs: “Faculty Only.”
Thought of the Week
Too many people stop looking
for work when they get a job.
InterCoin
Published by Duke University
Medical Center and Duke Hospital
Auxiliary
Evelyn S. Stead, Editor
Patricia Wynn, Feature Editor
Committee
Elon H. Clark
Charles H. Frenzel
George B. Kantner
Ethel T. Macduff
Norman K. Nelson
Nina Waite
Mailing address: Box 2895, Duke
Hospital, Durham, N. C.